- Edited again, sorry! -
It didn't take long for Tammie to realise I was not in a great humour the next morning. She didn't bother asking why though; she probably assumed that my Gran and Dad had been fighting again. On the bus, I was pretty quiet. Even quieter than usual. I couldn't shake the awful feeling that the dream the night before had given me. Amelia and Nathan sat next to us. He was right across from me again. I barely said hello to them but I couldn't help looking up at him to see; I don't know what. My dream had really spooked me and I couldn't let it go. I couldn't stop myself from looking at him sadly. He noticed and looked right back at me, puzzled by my expression.
"Perdy, are you okay?" asked Amelia, concern obvious in her voice. I gave her a quick nod.
"Ah, don't mind her, she's a bit grumpy this morning," joked Tammie.
I slumped back in my chair, avoiding all of their eyes as I took out my iPod and put the earphones on, turning the music up as high as possible and hugging myself tightly. I tried to tune out what was obviously all of them glancing at each other as if to say, what's up with her. It wasn't long before Nathan left to sit with the others down the back. I stretched out my legs and waited for the journey to be over. The music was loud enough to block out my thoughts but not the cold shivery feeling I'd had all morning.
I kept the earphones on even as I walked into my first class. Nathan looked at me inquisitively but I kept my eyes on the ground as I passed him by. To my surprise he followed me and took the headphones out. I switched off the iPod and looked back at him in confusion as he knelt next to me.
"Are you sure you're okay?" he whispered, one arm leaning on the back of my chair. Not many people had made it into the class yet but he made sure they didn't hear what he said. I nodded, unsure of what to say. He was a little too close to me, not that I was complaining.
"You can tell me if anything is bothering you, you know," he insisted, moving his hand so it rested lightly on my shoulder. I tried to hide my shiver. He looked right at me, expecting a reply. I could hardly tell him exactly what was bothering me but I wanted to share something with him because he seemed so concerned about me. If I was really rude, he might never bother again.
I rubbed my eyes. "I'm just tired is all. I had a screwed up dream last night and I..." I hesitated when I saw Dawn and co. walk into the room. "I'm fine," I said firmly.
"Well, cheer up then, you don't look as pretty when you're miserable."
My smile was automatic and genuine. He grinned back at me and handed me my earphones before taking his usual seat. I was still smiling when Tammie took hers.
She eyeballed me bemusedly. "Bit of a hormone imbalance today, yeah?"
I pushed against her and looked down at my book, still smirking to myself. I was suddenly cheered up beyond belief, the icky feelings all but forgotten. Amelia seemed surprised when I grinned merrily at her between classes but she didn't comment. She didn't even remark when her brother winked openly at me in the hallway but she did smirk quite a bit. I didn't have much experience on the subject but I was pretty sure what he was doing counted as flirting.
Joey finally met Amelia for the first time at lunchtime when she joined us at our table.
"Joey, this is Amelia, she's new here. Her brother is in our year. Amelia, this is my cousin Joey. He thinks he's the boss of me but obviously, I rule."
Joey barely heard me; he was too busy checking out Amelia. Gross. His face literally lit up when he shook her hand. Tammie's face clouded over. Major warning sign right there. I made sure that Amelia sat on the other side of me so that Joey was sandwiched between me and Tammie. Tammie sat as close to him as she physically could but he didn't seem to notice any difference. He did pay a little bit more attention to Tammie so it seemed like we had avoided a major hissy fit.
